CLA lobbying victory for farmers who feared pipelines would lose them payments

The CLA has helped to allay the fears of farmers that they would lose out on Single Payment Scheme (SPS) entitlements because of pipelines and other utility company hardware on their land.

High-level lobbying by the Country Land and Business Association and the NFU – in conjunction with the utility companies represented by the Energy Networks Association – has calmed the worries raised by many CLA members.

CLA President Henry Aubrey-Fletcher said: "After years of campaigning and lobbying by the CLA and the NFU, the Rural Payments Agency has finally accepted the need to clarify this tricky issue. At last it has issued guidance on how both planned and emergency works on farmland can be carried out without breaching cross compliance rules.

"This matter has been a real worry to many members and an obstacle to the work of the utility companies. We have been raising the matter with Defra and the RPA since the CAP reforms replaced the former IACS guidance on the issue in 2005. The RPA statement is welcome but there is still work to do."

The new guidance, available on the RPA website at www.rpa.gov.uk, states that utility works are a valid exemption from cross compliance rules, provided the claimant informs the cross compliance derogation team at the RPA.